My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.

Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.

All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.

God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

“As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—

I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.

Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.

With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

He throws me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.

if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’

He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings

to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.

so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude.

He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.

to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’

then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.